Page 44 - 期货和衍生品行业监管动态（2025年3月刊）

期货和衍生品行业监管动态

to those managers were inadequate.

During LME’s ‘Asian trading’ hours, from 1am to 7am GMT, only relatively

junior trading operations staff were on duty. They had not been trained to recognise

anything other than error trades or rogue algorithms as potential causes of a disorderly

market.

This meant that when price rises in the nickel contract became increasingly

extreme during the early hours of 8 March it was not escalated to senior LME

managers. Instead, trading operations staff took steps to accommodate the price rises,

even disabling the price bands, during the most extreme period of volatility.

The LME’s breaches allowed the price of its 3-month nickel futures contract to

increase much more quickly than would otherwise have been possible. This increased

the potential exposure of investors and market users to risks the price bands were

designed to mitigate.

The FCA acknowledges the work undertaken by LME since March 2022 to

enhance and strengthen its controls.

The FCA has delivered a focused enforcement outcome for this complex

investigation, alongside the wider market reform to the commodity derivatives
regulatory framework brought forward in February 2025.

Steve Smart, joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the

FCA said:

‘London’s metal markets are of vital importance to the UK and global economy.

We expect controls that match their significance. The LME should have been better

prepared to address the serious risks posed by extreme volatility.’

This is the first enforcement action the FCA has taken against a UK recognised

investment exchange.

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